Name: South Kalgoorlie operations (SKOs).
Location: The SKOs are located in the Eastern Goldfields, near Kalgoorlie-Boulder, located about 600 km east of Perth, in Western Australia.
Mine Owner/s: Northern Star Resources acquired the Kalgoorlie operations in March 2014.
Brief Description: The Hampton-Boulder-Jubilee (HBJ) and New Celebration deposits form the core of the current SKOs.
Brief History: The HBJ operation was originally discovered and owned by Hampton Australia. Normandy Mining acquired the asset in 1994, but in divested the asset to New Hampton Goldfields in 1996. Harmony Gold acquired the asset in 2001 following a takeover of New Hampton Goldfields.
The New Celebration deposit was originally discovered and owned by Hampton Australia, which in 1990 acquired Australmin Holdings and merged with BHP Gold. The merged entity changed its name to Newcrest Mining. Newcrest Mining sold the operation to Hill 50 Gold in 2001 and, in 2002, the consolidation of the HBJ and New Celebration operations occurred when Harmony Gold acquired Hill 50 gold.
The SKOs assets were sold to Dioro Exploration in 2007. Avoca Resources gained control of Dioro Exploration in 2010, following a bidding war between Avoca Resources ad Ramelius Resources.
Avoca Resources merged with Anatolia Minerals Development to form Alacer gold in 2011. Two years later, Alacer sold their Australian operations to Metals X. Metals X demerged their gold assets in Westgold Resources in 2016.
Westgold Resources sold the SKO assets to Northern Star Resources in 2018.
Primary Metals: Gold.
Secondary Metals: None stated.
Geology/Mineralisation: The SKO is located within the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane. The 842 km2 tenement package traverses the Coolgardie, Ora Banda, Kambalda and Boorara Domains. Mineralisation is associated with the greenstone sequence that comprises a mafic to ultramafic volcanic succession that is overlain by an intermediate to felsic volcano-sedimentary sequence. The structural architecture is dominated by north-north-west-trending crustal scale shear zones, including the Boulder-Lefroy, Zuleika, Abattoir, Boorara, Kunanulling, Binduli and Spargoville structural corridors. These structural corridors are the key influencers of mineralisation in the greater Kalgoorlie district and to date have yielded a mineral endowment of more than 100-million ounces.
Mineralisation styles within the district is a combination of Orogenic and Paleoplacer style deposits. Mineralisation is controlled by brittle-ductile shear zones, first and second order structures that act as Lithostratigraphic contacts (as fluid conduits) through late stage brittle structures. Mineralisation is also associated with fertile sulphidised intrusive porphyries and layered mafic intrusions with chemically reactive lithologies that provide a rheological contrast.
Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at June 30, 2018, were estimated 2.81-million tonnes grading 2.9 g/t gold.
Resources: Total mineral resources are estimated as at June 30, 2018, were estimated at 53.76-million tonnes grading 2.1 g/t gold.
Mining Method: The HBJ gold deposit is mined by a top down longhole open stoping method.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The Jubilee processing plant processes up to 1.2-million tonnes a year of free milling gold ore at an overall gold recovery of about 90%.
Currently all underground mining operations are operated by ACM contract mining, including diamond drilling and raiseboring operations. The mining fleet includes development and production drills, as well as loaders and trucks.
The SKO also maintains two active tailings storage facilities.
Prospects: The HBJ gold mine has been extracted to 580 m below surface. Possible extensions are being investigated to the north (Mutooroo) and the south (South Jubilee) of the current workings. The orebody is still open at depth
Contact Details:
Northern Star Resources
Tel +61 8 6188 2100
Email info@nsrltd.com
Website https://www.nsrltd.com